--- title: Donald Trump Jerusalem: President Still Hasn't Decided description: Despite public commitments to move the U.S. embassy to Israel during the campaign, President Donald Trump has not decided on the move. canonical: https://time.com/4644067/donald-trump-jerusalem-embassy-decision/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-23T21:20:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:42.413Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Hasn't Decided on Israeli Embassy Move og:description: Despite a campaign pledge to move it to Jerusalem. og:url: https://time.com/4644067/donald-trump-jerusalem-embassy-decision/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cc76d9d97e563fc/6988b6dc196cf448a203e962/gettyimages-632176378.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: A man cycles past a giant banner, bearing a message of congratulations (Mazeltov) for incoming US President Donald Trump, covering a building under construction in central Jerusalem on January 20, 2017. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Hasn't Decided on Israeli Embassy Move twitter:description: Despite a campaign pledge to move it to Jerusalem. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cc76d9d97e563fc/6988b6dc196cf448a203e962/gettyimages-632176378.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Hasn't Decided on Israeli Embassy Move, Despite Campaign Pledge > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bbdf1f2a-0142-4fb4-af08-7bd494b58688&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gJmmEYQH.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2017-01-23. Sean Spicer arrived at his first full press briefing as the Trump Administration’s top spokesman_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 23, 2017 9:20 PM UTC  A man cycles past a giant banner, bearing a message of congratulations (Mazeltov) for incoming US President Donald Trump, covering a building under construction in central Jerusalem on Jan. 20, 2017. A man cycles past a giant banner, bearing a message of congratulations (Mazeltov) for incoming US President Donald Trump, covering a building under construction in central Jerusalem on Jan. 20, 2017. Thomas Coex—AFP/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 23, 2017 9:20 PM UTC Despite [public commitments](http://time.com/4507432/donald-trump-israel-jerusalem-capital-netanyahu/) to move the U.S. embassy to Israel during the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump has not decided on the move, the [White House said Monday](http://time.com/4643724/donald-trump-first-press-briefing/). After reports [suggesting the move of the embassy](http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/01/how-trump-can-move-us-embassy-jerusalem-000285) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could come as soon as this week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that the Administration is only beginning to consider the relocation. The move has long been a priority of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and even the consideration of the shift has been condemned by Palestinian leaders, who also claim Jerusalem as the capital of a potential future state. “We are at the early stages of this decisionmaking process,” Spicer told reporters. When pressed if he could commit that at the end of Trump’s first term that the embassy would be moved, Spicer replied, “If it was already a decision, we wouldn’t be going through a process.” While a presidential candidate last March, Trump indicated, however, that he was already set on the idea, saying he would move the embassy to Jerusalem. “Fairly quickly,” [he told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1611/09/sitroom.01.html). “I mean, it’s a process, but fairly quickly. I mean, the fact is, I would like to see it moved, and I would like to see it in Jerusalem.” The announcement from Spicer comes barely 24 hours after Trump spoke with Netanyahu on Sunday for the first time as President. In separate statements to the media on the call, both sides described the call positively, but included no mention of the embassy issue. In December, counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway [indicated that Trump still supported](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4dab85c9e912411e9172cbbe1644ecfa/jerusalem-mayor-hopes-trump-will-move-us-embassy-city) the move. “He made that very clear during the campaign,” Conway told radio host Hugh Hewitt last month. “And as President-elect, I’ve heard him repeat it several times, privately if not publicly.” Trump follows both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in publicly expressing support for the embassy move during the campaign, before delaying it at the behest of national-security leaders and Middle East experts as detrimental to the peace process. During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Secretary of Defense James Mattis told Senators he believes Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel and deferred to the Secretary of State on whether it should be moved. “The capital of Israel that I go to, sir, is Tel Aviv, sir, because that’s where all their government people are,” [he testified](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/mattis-tel-aviv-jerusalem/). The issue did not come up during the confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominee to [head the State Department, Rex Tillerson](http://time.com/4644104/rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-confirmation/?xid=homepage). Trump faces a June 1 deadline to weigh in formally on the subject when the final six-month Obama waiver of the Jerusalem Embassy Act expires. ## Transcript I know that Josh Earnest voted the most popular Press Secretary by the press corps. So, after checking my Twitter feed, I shot Josh an email last night letting him know that he can rest easy that his title is secure for at least the next few days. I think that if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country whether it's Russia or anyone else And we had shared national interest in that, sure we'll take it. I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you. There are times when we believe something to be true, or we get something from an agency. Are we acting in haste because the information available wasn't complete, but our desire to communicate with the American people and make sure that you have the most complete story at the time. And so we do it. I think that it's, as I mentioned the other day, it is a two way street. There are many mistakes that the media makes all the time. They misreport something, they don't report something, they get a fact wrong. I don't think that's always [ INAUDIBLE ], you know? To turn around and say, okay. You were intentionally lying. I think we all go try to do our best job. And do it with a degree of integrity in our respective industries. And do you stand by your statement that that was the most watched inaugural address in [ UNKNOWN ]? Sure, it was the most watched inaugural. When you look at. Look. You look at just the one network alone at 16. 9 million people online. Another couple of the networks there was tens of millions of people that watched that online. Nevermind the audience that was here. 31 million people watched it on television. Combine that with the tens of millions of people that watched it online on a device. It's unquestionable. 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